An increasing focus of attention on the unique problems of the handicapped has resulted in the provisions of special up-close parking spaces, specially designed public rest areas, and buses which not only utilize specialized hydraulic lifts to board wheelchairs, but have specially designated wheelchair areas to transport the handicapped. State law, at least in California, dictates certain parameters within which a wheelchair transport apparatus must fall, including the requirement of a minimum three-point tie-down and a maximum height of one and one-half inches above the floor surface for anchor points to which the tie-downs are connected.
Although this general area of interest is relatively newly developed and little prior art exists, at least two wheelchair restraining systems have been patented, one having U.S. Pat. No. 4,060,271 issued to Joseph J. Williams on Nov. 29, 1977, and the other having U.S. Pat. No. 4,093,303, issued to Eldrid W. Nelson, on June 6, 1978. Whereas both of these structures surely do the job, the Nelson patent describes an apparatus which extends from a vertical wall and the Williams patent, coming closest to the structure set forth by applicant herein, is undoubtedly engineering-wise adequate but makes no provision for the clutter-free storage of the wheelchair tie-down elements when they are not in use, and also involves the use of loose structure which must be attached to unstored chains which are lying loose on the floor of the bus.
There is a need for a wheelchair tie-down apparatus adapted for restraining a wheelchair to the floor of a bus, or the like, and which provides for automatic out-of-the-way containment of the tethering structure when not in use to minimize the possibility of the tie-down structure actually tripping an aide to the wheelchair victim, or otherwise becoming entangled in the wheelchair as it is moved onto and off of its station.